6. What consideration has the First Minister given to Ofcom's announcement that Royal Mail could reduce letter deliveries to three days a week? OQ60613

The challenges faced by Royal Mail are not best resolved by a service confined to only three days a week. The Deputy Minister for Social Partnership will meet Ofcom next week to make it clear that any changes to postal services must take into account Welsh needs and any impacts on vulnerable people.

Diolch. Since Royal Mail was privatised, it has been asset-stripped. The universal one-price letter was never profitable on its own, it was part of a package of services. And recently, workers have been told to deliver the more lucrative parcels and leave letters behind, as rounds have become too big to deliver for the workforce that is left; all while chief executives have had massive pay awards and shareholders have profited. Has the Welsh Government considered the impact reduced letter delivery will have on health appointments and those that are digitally excluded?

Well, Llywydd, Carolyn Thomas makes a very important point at the end of her supplementary question. I said in my original answer that one of the two key points that the Deputy Minister will be conveying next week are general Welsh needs—. And a universal postal service inevitably means that you get the same service if you are hard to provide that service to, if you live remotely and it's inevitably more expensive, as if you live in a densely-populated inner city area, where it's much easier to provide that service; that's the nature of an universal service and we will be making that point. But we'll also be making points on behalf of those vulnerable individuals in our community. We know our health services are used far more by people later on in life than people who are earlier on. We know that those people are, on the whole, less likely to use digital means of communication. It's fantastic that the health service uses text messaging and other things to remind people of appointments, but, if you don't operate in that world, you rely on the letter coming through the door, and if you're only getting a letter on three days of the week the chances are far too high that someone will not get an appointment or not know about their appointment in good time to be able to make the necessary arrangements to be able to keep that appointment. Those are really important points for the most vulnerable people in our society and the Minister will be conveying that point very directly to the regulator.

The chief executive of Ofcom made the point that we're sending half as many letters as we did in 2011 and receiving many more parcels, but the universal service obligation hasn't changed since then. Ofcom also noted that many other European countries, for the same reasons, have reduced frequency of delivery or extended delivery times for letters, including Sweden, Belgium, Norway and Denmark, in their document. However, last Wednesday, the Prime Minister pledged to maintain Royal Mail's obligation to deliver letters six days a week. Given that Ofcom will now be consulting on its proposals before providing an update in the summer and your indication that you will be engaging with Ofcom, including a meeting next week, what, if any, proposals do you have to square that circle, where consumer demand has changed drastically, but, at the same time, the public want that universal six-day service?

Well, Llywydd, I don't disagree that there is a dilemma to be solved there, with the number of letters falling and the nature of the business changing. It is why Ofcom has itself come forward with its proposals. We will engage with those proposals, of course; as I said, the Minister is meeting on 9 February with Ofcom. What we are concerned with is that, in any resolution of that dilemma, Welsh interests are not neglected and that vulnerable people are protected, and I don't imagine for a moment that the Member would dissent from either of those principles.